SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Warriors have played just six games, but already Steph Curry is hinting at a career year.
One play in Golden State’s win against Miami last week told the story.
The matchup was too good to be true: the Heat’s Tyler Herro defending Curry with the game still in the balance.
Curry’s teammates sensed the opportunity on the inbound play with just under six minutes to play and the Warriors up five, looking to create some separation. Curry lobbed a pass to Kevon Looney, who found Klay Thompson, who found a relocating Curry with Herro tagging along. Curry danced Herro nearly to the ground as he drained a crucial 3-pointer.
“Steph was just sublime,” coach Steve Kerr said. “What he’s doing is just incredible. He just gets by anybody. it doesn’t matter who’s on him. He gets right into the teeth of the defense and finishes, finds guys. He’s been spectacular here to start the year.”
Curry, who will turn 35 in March, is averaging 30.8 points per game with six assists and six rebounds. That scoring average, if he keeps it up, would be second to just the 32 points Curry averaged during the 2020-21 season. Only LeBron James (in all his five seasons with the Lakers) and Kobe Bryant in 2012-13 season have averaged at least 25/5/5 in any season played over the age of 34, according to Basketball Reference. Curry has averaged more than 26.5 points just three times during his first 13 seasons.
Thursday night, Curry banged his chest in a celebration he’d usually save after nailing a playoff dagger — not a regular season game in late October.
“He used to have irrational confidence,” Draymond Green said. “He doesn’t have irrational confidence anymore. He has an earned confidence that we all know and expect.”
After the game, Curry saw a text from his trainer marveling at the play. It tracked a pattern they’d worked on all summer. Though Curry made the play look effortless, even spontaneous, plenty of hard work went into it.
Curry’s been effortlessly brilliant this season so far. He led the Warriors’ win on Thursday with 33 points, has scored at least 30 points in four of the Warriors’ five games (he scored 21 in the loss to Phoenix), and is making 3s at a 46% clip.
It’s safe to bet that trend continues on their five-game road trip.
At age 34, Curry’s is defying his age. Something he attributes to a dedicated, ever-evolving routine to take care of his body and conditioning that goes beyond rigorous workouts. But is a well-kept secret.
“I think getting stronger definitely helps,” he said. “You could say I improved there, because you can withstand a lot more physicality and stuff. We talked a lot about that last year. But I am stubborn enough to think I can do this for a lot more years and trying to prove that every day with the work I put in every day. Try to make it look easy even though it’s not.”
He also played 37 minutes on Thursday, not ideal for Kerr, who tries to mitigate starters’ workload this early in the season. But with the young second unit struggling to keep winnable games in hand and imminent rest for the starters coming up during one of the two back-to-backs on their first long road trip, Kerr and the Warriors decided to loosen the leash to get a game they really wanted to win.
“I think I’m blessed with the way of approaching the game,” Curry said. “The way I see it. The rationality behind it was it hadn’t been done a certain way before. You try to create that, almost. Once you do, there’s rationality that comes behind that. That’s what the expectation is. I know what work goes in to make that a deserved confidence every time I play. You try to enjoy what you do because you want to win and enjoy the competition. And the comparison is always to yourself.”
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